Verstappen overtook Perez for sixth place following the restart after a late safety car period, and was encouraged to go and overtake Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc ahead to take points off them.
Perez was informed by his engineer, Hugh Bird, that if Verstappen could not overtake Alonso in the closing stages, he would give him the position back to help the Mexican in his push for second place in the drivers’ standings.
